Skills to Buy First

Lara starts the game off like any other city slicker, completely inept with the ways our ancestors lived (e.g., like wild beasts - le fauves!). However, as her survival instincts take over, and the veil of civilization is torn asunder, Lara will unlock more of her potential as a uber-destroying bad-ass from the 1995 videogame.

EARLY SKILL FOCUS

Early on, you will want to focus on the three "growth skills" in the Survival Skills set to let Lara earn experience and collect salvage quickly.

Survivalist - This talent lets Lara earn more experience points from harvesting killed animals, gathered plants and orange supply boxes. Note that the latter are finite, but animals are not. While an area can be "hunted out", this status will reset itself after sufficient in-game time has passed (due to fast travel or other story events). Note that completing Tombs, completing Challenges, and finding collectibles (documents, relics, GPS caches, etc.) will earn more experience points than slaying enemies. In any case, there are an infinite number of enemies to be slain in the last section of the game (Lara will keep the experience from that replayed section), so this skill is handy to have chiefly to get the important Cartography perk.

Advanced Salvaging - This skill lets Lara collect more salvage (essentially upgrade money) from salvage containers. Like plants and supply containers, salvage boxes are finite. Once you collect one, you will be unable to collect them again, so you will want to maximize your gain by buying this skill early on. There is sufficient lee-way in salvage boxes that will let you get most (but not all) of the upgrades, assuming you do not stop to loot enemies or have Bone Collector. Err on the side of caution and pick up this skill early.

Bone Collector - A handy perk that lets Lara collect salvage from slain animals. Even if an area is "hunted out" the salvage from animals does not decrease. This is a good perk to unlock because some of the Tech Upgrades are expensive (400 to 650 salvage).

MID & LATE GAME SKILL FOCUS

Mid to late game, you will want to buy into the following skill perks:

Pain Tolerance - Increases Lara's HP, and helpful to keep her from frying instantly when set on fire.

Dodge - This skill helps Lara get away from enemies. I would use this skill as much as possible because it will make the game easier when a lot of enemies are trying to kill Lara. I would try to max out this skill.